Podcasts

Soul Music

This BBC Radio 4 series examines “famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal” and it makes for a compelling listen. Highlights include the healing power of the late Amy Winehouse’s music and memories of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile”. bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008mj7p/episodes/player

Celebration Rock

Critic Steven Hyden delves into the world of rock – bagging big-name interviews with the likes of Robert Plant and Courtney Barnett, taking deep dives into albums, and chatting with writers. Storytelling shines on the multi-part series dedicated to Bruce Springsteen. 93x.com/celebration-rock

Album of the year nominee, Slowthai (top) and producer Kwes Darko attend the 2019 Hyundai Mercury Prize Launch in July (Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty)

Song Exploder

In this popular US podcast, musicians deconstruct their songs and grant audiences a peek inside their creative process. Interviews are edited into first-person testimonies, creating a warm and inviting experience. Artists detail the inspiration behind lyrics and reasons why certain techniques were used. songexploder.net

NPR Tiny Desk

Adele, The xx and Sting are some of the British acts who have played acoustic gigs at the US radio station’s Washington DC office. Musicians typically play three-song sets and very often reinterpret and extend songs, including in a glorious episode featuring Roy Ayers. npr.org/podcasts/510306/tiny-desk-concerts-audio

Hip Hop Saved My Life With Romesh Ranganathan

Billed as a “comedy podcast about hip-hop”, the stand-up and presenter invites guests to indulge their passion for the culture, share gig memories and play their favourite tracks. Guests have included Mark Ronson and Mo Gilligan. romeshranganathan.co.uk/podcast

Duolingo Podcast

This podcast comes in both French and Spanish versions. It features stories told in both languages which aim to help learners. The real life stories use simple words and are told by native speakers. They’re billed not as language lessons, but as life lessons told through language. podcast.duolingo.com

Coffee Break Languages

Not sure whether you’ve got time to learn a new language? This podcast says you can do it in your coffee break, while walking the dog, or during your visit to the gym. It currently offers podcasts in five languages – French, Spanish, Italian, German and Chinese – and each language has four settings: beginner, intermediate, upper intermediate, and advanced. radiolingua.com

The Fluent Show

Hosts and linguists Kerstin and Lindsay have studied 15 different languages between them, including Portuguese, Japanese, Dutch, Mandarin, Russian, Welsh and Korean. The podcast is less about specific languages and more about learning as a whole, plus tips and ideas that will help language learners become fluent. fluent.show

Multilinguish

This podcast from the people behind language-learning app Babbel explores how language connects the world. It doesn’t focus on a specific language, instead covering a variety, but it looks at everything from whether language affects our world view to which accents are sexiest. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/multilinguish/id1451340179

The Actual Fluency Podcast With Kris Broholm

Host Kris Broholm is fascinated by language and wants to share his passion. Again, this podcast doesn’t focus on a specific lingo; instead students and experts in the field join Broholm to share their tips on what it actually takes to learn a language. actualfluency.com

Safe For Work

This podcast is all about finding work/life balance. Career experts Liz Dolan and Rico Gagliano offer advice on topics from avoiding burnout to how to fake illness when calling in sick, as well as helpful tips on how to progress in your career healthily and happily. wondery.com

How to Be Awesome at Your Job

Having worked with organisations from Google to Goldman Sachs, the United Nations to Amazon, American “trainer-in-chief” Pete Mockaitis here interviews life coaches, such as Pamela McLean of the Hudson Institute, about subjects including how to improve your leadership, and productivity experts such as Erik Fisher on how to avoid distractions in the workplace. awesomeatyourjob.com

Host Morra Aarons-Mele talks to women from the worlds of politics, business and psychology (Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty)

Hiding in the Bathroom

Host Morra Aarons-Mele talks to women from the worlds of politics, business and psychology, and asks them how they created the careers they wanted. Guests have included Lisa Sugar, who turned her personal blog into global lifestyle media company PopSugar, and Fertility IQ founder Deborah Anderson-Bialis. forbes.com

How Did You Get Into That?

Grant Baldwin – who quit his job as a youth pastor when his wife was five months pregnant with the first of their three children, with little idea of what to do next – asks people from all walks of life about how they got into their careers, from small business owners and musicians to photographers and teachers. stitcher.com

The Broad Experience

Tackles some of the biggest problems facing women in the workplace, from race and class to the menopause and ageism, incompetent bosses and sexual harassment to the hell of networking and the power of negotiation. Enlightening – not just for women. thebroadexperience.com

Out To Lunch with Jay Rayner

The food critic and writer takes a celebrity to lunch. Sounds simple, right? But what follows is riveting conversation about food and feelings – and there are brilliant anecdotes, too. Series one has concluded but you can indulge in hours of chat with the likes of Tracey Ullman and Jamie Dornan. audioboom.com/channels/4983509.

Table Manners with Jessie Ware

Singer Jessie Ware and her mother Lennie grill some of Britain’s biggest names around their dinner table in their gossipy and entertaining podcast.

The seventh series is under way and the all-conquering Ed Sheeran and “Domestic Goddess” Nigella Lawson are among the guests who’ve discussed food, family and more while tucking into a feast prepared by the hosts. play.acast.com/s/tablemanners.

My Favourite Murder

The ultimate crime comedy podcast that often resembles a pub discussion.

Hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark combine comic commentary about well-known cases with frank discussions on their own dealings with mental health issues and substance abuse. In May, the pair released their dual memoir, named for their signature sign-off, Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered.

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